knife sharpening

sylvie

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I am a woodcarver and sharpen all my knives.
I use two things to get the finest edge:

A 12" long piece of old suede belt glued to a narrow piece of wood and saturated with jeweler's rouge. You want the rough side of the belt up.

A strip of very fine black automotive sandpaper glued to a narrow piece of wood or acrylic plastic.

An electric grinding stone with either of the above glued over the surface is another option.
 

enjoy the ride

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After years of hit and miss sharpening of my wood working tools, a woman showed me that if you look straight on at the edge, rotating it back and forth a bit, you can see the light glint off the parts of the edge that are NOT sharp. When the edge is perfect, you can't see any light reflecting from it.
THe other thing is to get the burr off- I used to use a leather piece as mentioned to rub that off.
 

Javamama

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bump

anyone else? What do you all use? I was using a Wusthof 2 stage, but the sharpener seems to have worn away after not much use. I need a better one - but not a steel. I don't do well with those.

And how do you know when it's sharp enough for butchering? What do you test it on? The last time we did a rooster I thought for sure my knife was sharp enough and it was not. It sliced through veggies like butter, but not the neck of a rooster.
 

miss_thenorth

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I don't know what hubby has, and he's not home to ask. But to test its sharpness, hold a peice of paper with two fingers. In the other hand, if you just touch the knife to the edge of the paper, itshould slide through like butter.
 

abifae

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I'm getting a whetstone this month to do mine.
 

Bettacreek

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I bought a sharpening kit from Walmart. I needed to! I agree with what someone else said... When I think I'm done, I check the edge and if there's any reflection off the edge, I go at it again.
I bought the kit like this: http://smithsedge.com/products/product.asp?id=34&cid=1
As for cutting through a chicken neck, first, make sure you're using a good knife, not just a sharp knife. I like one that has a very nice point to it. Then you can start with the point. I wouldn't cut straight through the neck with a knife. Chop the head off with a hatchet or cut the arteries with a knife, then cut BETWEEN the vertibrae.
 

quercus21

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For fast and sharp, edges with no nicks/dings I use the same thing that noobiechickenlady uses. I have some knives that I still have to resort to the good old fashion stones. I have 3 different grits.
 
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